Chrome takes 10% usage share, IE continues to hemorrhage

January was a good month for Chrome and Safari. Internet Explorer? Downright …

Chrome's usage share for January has made it into double digits: the browser was used by 10.7 percent of Web users last month, up from 9.98 percent in December. It was a good month too for Safari, up to 6.30 percent from 5.89 percent the month before.

The WebKit-powered browsers were the big winners: Microsoft's Internet Explorer was the big loser. Internet Explorer reached a new all-time low of 56 percent, down 1.08 percentage points from last month. Though Internet Explorer 8 continues to perform well—up 1.15 points from December—defections from Internet Explorer 6 and 7 to other browsers continue to dominate, with those versions losing 1.63 and 0.47 points respectively. The beta of Internet Explorer 9 made minor gains, rising to 0.50 percent share.

Firefox continues to hover between 22 and 23 points; its January share was 22.75 percent, erasing the small gains it made in December. Opera made small gains, up to 2.28 from 2.20 percent a month ago.

Data source: Net Applications

Internet Explorer's downward slide is continuing unabated. Unless Internet Explorer 9's release later this year halts that slide, the browser will lose its majority position within months. Firefox looks like it's going nowhere: the browser has fallen from its high, somewhere short of 25 percent, but is holding steady now. That, too, may change with the release of Firefox 4, a major upgrade of the browser.

Google's browser is being heavily promoted by the company, and is continuing to win over users: its rise continues unabated. Safari is also doing well, perhaps a result of Apple's bumper Mac sales.

Data source: Ars Technica

Here at Ars, the trends remain completely at odds with those in the world at large. Firefox, Chrome, and, remarkably, Internet Explorer have all seen their share go up, at the expense of Safari, which has seen a large drop.